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Sent: 12-05-2024

E-GIANTS
Dave Klein was the Giants' beat writer for The Star-Ledger from 1961 to 1995.
He is the author of 26 books and he was one of only three sportswriters to have covered all the Super Bowls until the past few. Dave has allowed TEAM GIANTS to reprint some of his articles.

NO DEVITO SUNDAY;
LAWRENCE, JOHNSON ON INJURED RESERVE

By Dave Klein
As the Giants stumble towards the merciful end of this season, heads coach Brian Daboll will not have his recent starting quarterback, Tommy DeVito.

His sore right forearm is sore enough so that he cannot play Sunday against New Orleans, which gives the job to Drew Lock, the guy Daboll thought so much of that he promoted DeVito from No. 3 to starter when Daniel Jones was released, jumping him over Lock, who had been the backup all season.

But there is a qualifier to this bit of news. If DeVito is comfortable enough, says Daboll, he will serve as Lock's backup. If not, that job will go to Tim Boyle, who was signed just a week ago after a journeyman's career in Green Bay, Detroit, Chicago, the Jets and Miami. He was signed as an undrafted rookie free agent by the Packers in 2018 after a split college career at Connecticut and Eastern Kentucky.

With the Jets in 2023, Boyle completed 48 of 77 passes for 360 yards, one touchdown and four interceptions. He is 30 years old, 6-4 and 235.

As to Lock, who is also in his sixth year out of the University of Missouri, he is almost a clone of Boyle at 6-4 and 230, but he was a fourth round draft pick by the Broncos in 2019.

Daboll was complimentary toward Lock (which doesn't explain why he was passed over by DeVito two weeks ago), but he did say this:

"Drew did some good stuff in Dallas. [But] he also did some things that he can improve on. I want to give him a full week of preparation and practice, and then let him go out there and play this week."

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Daboll said rookie TE Theo Johnson underwent surgery on his injured foot Wednesday. "He was really doing a nice job. Great young man. Worked extremely hard. I feel terrible for him," the coach said. Lawrence suffered a dislocated elbow and is out for the season.

"He did it towards the end of the game, but he kept playing through it. He didn't really know anything was wrong until after the game when he got looked at."

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The Saints, from whom much was expected, have played to a 4-8 record, but are favored (by five points) over the 2-10 Giants. And from somewhere in fantasy land, one of the well-known "selection experts" on the internet has made the Giants "Pick of the Week" against New Orleans.

The Saints have won two of their last three games while the Giants are on a seven-game losing streak.

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If you think the Giants' secondary is weak and struggling (my, how observant you are) some folks are pointing at the new defensive coordinator, Shane Bowen, who is apparently a believer in almost full-time zone defense - which, in theory, tends to confuse the quarterbacks but in this case appears to be having that effect on the Giants' secondary.

Oh, so that's the reason cornerback Deonte Banks is having such a troubling season.

And last year's defensive coordinator, Wink Martindale, is now the defensive coordinator at the University of Michigan. It isn't to make a comparison, but the Giants are 2-10 and the Wolverines are 7-5, with an especially strong defense.

In fact, they held powerhouse Ohio State to 10 points last weekend while registering a monumental 13-10 upset victory. ... Martindale, you'll remember, stormed out of the locker room and stadium after the final game las season, hurling expletives at Daboll and saying he could no longer coach under him.

***** ***** *****

Dexter Lawrence II, the Giants' superstar nose tackle, is also gone for the remainder of the season with a dislocated elbow suffered against the Cowboys on Thanksgiving when teammate linebacker Bobby Okereke landed on him in a group tackle.

Lawrence will be replaced in the starting lineup by D.J. Davidson; the tight end backup for Daniel Bellinger is now Chris Manholtz. ... Sure, now you can see why the Giants are a surprise pick to register an upset on Sunday, right?

Questions? Comments?
Send it over to davesklein@aol.com

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